https://phys.org/science-news/mathematics en-us The latest news on mathematics, math, math science, mathematical science and math technology. Economists from RUDN University have created a methodology based on mathematical modeling to manage production effectively with rapidly emerging innovations. The results were published in Sustainability. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-economists-algorithm-flexible-enterprise-sustainable.html Mathematics Economics & Business Tue, 17 Oct 2023 13:45:02 EDT news616769101 A pair of mathematicians, Kevin Course and Prasanth Nair at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies, has developed a new state-estimation method to create efficient forecasts without the need for the details of an underlying model. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-state-estimation-method-efficient-underlying.html Mathematics Thu, 12 Oct 2023 11:21:57 EDT news616328514 College students learn more calculus in an active learning course in which students solve problems during class than in a traditional lecture-based course. That's according to a peer-reviewed study my colleagues and I published in Science. We also found that college students better understood complex calculus concepts and earned better grades in the active learning course. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-students-calculus-lessons.html Mathematics Education Wed, 11 Oct 2023 14:00:02 EDT news616250773 A large team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions across Europe, has found evidence backing up work by Persi Diaconis in 2007 in which he suggested tossed coins are more likely to land on the same side they started on, rather than on the reverse. The team conducted experiments designed to test the randomness of coin flipping and posted their results on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-flipped-coins-fair-thought.html Mathematics Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:10:01 EDT news616244808 Past research on Chinese mathematics teaching has focused mainly on the role of teacher's beliefs and professional knowledge separately in teaching approaches, or examined three variables—teacher's beliefs, professional knowledge and teaching approaches—in correlational studies. How teaching beliefs and professional knowledge specifically influence teaching approaches remained largely unclear. Also, most studies have focused on pre-service or elementary school teachers in the West. There is a need to know whether these conceptual frameworks can be applied and adapted to the Chinese teaching context at the secondary level. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-secondary-mathematics-teachers-beliefs-knowledge.html Mathematics Education Wed, 04 Oct 2023 13:43:02 EDT news615645781 Researchers Jayne Spiller and Camilla Gilmore at the Center for Mathematical Cognition, University of Loughborough, U.K., have investigated the intersection of sleep and mathematical memory, finding that sleep after learning improves recall. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-mathematical-bedtime-stories-memory.html Mathematics Education Tue, 03 Oct 2023 10:20:02 EDT news615547087 Like fingerprints, a firearm's discarded shell casings have unique markings. This allows forensic experts to compare casings from a crime scene with those from a suspect's gun. Finding and reporting a mismatch can help free the innocent, just as a match can incriminate the guilty. https://phys.org/news/2023-10-forensic-science-method-firearm-identification.html Mathematics Social Sciences Mon, 02 Oct 2023 15:24:09 EDT news615479042 Tens of thousands of handwritten pages by one of the 20th century's greatest mathematicians, Alexander Grothendieck, many of which the eccentric genius penned while living as a hermit, were unveiled in France on Friday. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-hermit-eccentric-french-math-genius.html Mathematics Fri, 29 Sep 2023 12:54:05 EDT news615210840 Understanding how children learn to count can have profound impacts on the kinds of instructional materials used in the classroom. And the way those materials are designed can shape the strategies children use to learn, according to a new paper led by Concordia researchers. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-tens-sophistication-young-children-concepts.html Mathematics Education Wed, 27 Sep 2023 17:32:02 EDT news615054721 Patterns of chemical interactions are thought to create patterns in nature such as stripes and spots. A new study shows that the mathematical basis of these patterns also governs how sperm tail moves. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-sperm-patterns-believed-dictate-zebra.html Mathematics Wed, 27 Sep 2023 05:00:01 EDT news614966476 It seems there's a five-letter word describing what many players of the wildly popular Wordle puzzle do daily as they struggle to find a target word within six tries. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-wordle-users-mathematics-expert.html Mathematics Social Sciences Mon, 25 Sep 2023 15:40:01 EDT news614874725 New research has used machine learning to find the properties of atomic pieces of geometry, in pioneering work that could drive the development of new results in mathematics. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-machine-unravels-mysteries-atomic-geometry.html Mathematics Mon, 25 Sep 2023 12:21:58 EDT news614863315 Have you ever tried to do a brainteaser in which you have to connect the dots to make the outline of a house in one continuous stroke without going back over your lines? Or perhaps you've clicked on Facebook's friend recommendations or played Settlers of Catan. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-dots-mathematicians-hot-problem.html Mathematics Mon, 18 Sep 2023 13:57:08 EDT news614264224 A major new study has revealed that American teenagers are more likely than any other nationality to brag about their math ability. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-teenagers-exaggerate-math-abilities.html Mathematics Education Thu, 14 Sep 2023 19:00:01 EDT news613915822 Richard Schwartz, a mathematician at Brown University has found a solution to the problem of how small a Möbius band can be made without intersecting itself—at least for a smooth piece of paper. The paper is published on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-mathematician-mbius-band-aspect-ratio.html Mathematics Wed, 13 Sep 2023 09:22:08 EDT news613815720 For much of her teaching career, Carrie Stark relied on math games to engage her students, assuming they would pick up concepts like multiplication by seeing them in action. The kids had fun, but the lessons never stuck. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-science-swept-reforms-classrooms-nationwide.html Mathematics Education Tue, 12 Sep 2023 04:14:54 EDT news613710887 Today it would seem odd to describe a flower with the word "bastard"—why apply a term of personal abuse to a flower? But in Shakespeare's time, "bastard" was a technical term describing certain plants. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-linguists-shakespeare-words.html Mathematics Social Sciences Thu, 07 Sep 2023 13:47:04 EDT news613313221 Getting in sync can be exhilarating when you're dancing in rhythm with other people or clapping along in an audience. Fireflies too know the joy of synchronization, timing their flashes together to create a larger display to attract mates. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-fireflies-brain-cells-dancers-synchronization.html Mathematics Thu, 07 Sep 2023 10:48:08 EDT news613302482 Knots are used in all sorts of ways, every day. They ensure safety both indoors and for outdoor activities such as boating or sailing, are used as surgical sutures, as decorations, and they can even be found at nanoscales in nature, for example in DNA molecules. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-team-thousands.html Mathematics Tue, 05 Sep 2023 15:02:03 EDT news613144916 In a remarkable breakthrough in the field of mathematical science, Professor Kyudong Choi from the Department of Mathematical Sciences at UNIST has provided an irrefutable proof that certain spherical vortices exist in a stable state. This discovery holds significant implications for predicting weather anomalies and advancing weather prediction technologies. The research is published in the journal Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-mathematical-proof-reveals-insights-typhoon.html Mathematics Tue, 05 Sep 2023 10:06:02 EDT news613127161 Calculus is the study of change. Calculus teaching methods, however, have changed little in recent decades. Now, FIU research shows a new model could improve calculus instruction nationwide. https://phys.org/news/2023-09-revamped-calculus.html Mathematics Education Fri, 01 Sep 2023 10:25:27 EDT news612782721 Exciting a brain region using electrical noise stimulation can help improve mathematical learning in those who struggle with the subject, according to a new study from the Universities of Surrey and Oxford, Loughborough University, and Radboud University in The Netherlands. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-brain-key-boosting-math.html Mathematics Education Thu, 31 Aug 2023 14:22:18 EDT news612710532 Statistical methods can evaluate whether pivotal military events, like the Battle of Jutland, American involvement in the Vietnam war or the nuclear arms race, could've turned out otherwise, according to a new book. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-statistics-figure-historic-differently-experts.html Mathematics Political science Wed, 30 Aug 2023 17:17:04 EDT news612634622 The instability of Stokes waves (steady propagating waves on the surface of an ideal fluid with infinite depth) represents a fundamental challenge in the realm of nonlinear science. A team of researchers recently identified the origin of breaking oceanic waves in a recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-oceanic-fundamental-nonlinear-science-mathematicians.html Mathematics Mon, 28 Aug 2023 11:30:04 EDT news612441002 With mass shootings happening randomly every year in the United States, it may seem that there is no way to predict where the next horrific event is most likely to occur. In a new study published by the journal Risk Analysis, scientists at Iowa State University calculate the annual probability of a mass shooting in every state and at public places such as shopping malls and schools. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-method-annual-probability-mass.html Mathematics Political science Tue, 22 Aug 2023 10:30:02 EDT news611915977 Researchers are using mathematical models to better understand the effects of disruptions like daylight savings time, working night shifts, jet lag or even late-night phone scrolling on the body's circadian rhythms. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-mathematical-body-clock-disruptions.html Mathematics Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:24:03 EDT news611504641 Everyone knows that arithmetic is true: 2 + 2 = 4. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-arithmetic-biological-deep-perception.html Mathematics Social Sciences Tue, 15 Aug 2023 10:40:01 EDT news611313882 Life's random rhythms surround us–from the hypnotic, synchronized blinking of fireflies…to the back-and-forth motion of a child's swing… to slight variations in the otherwise steady lub-dub of the human heart. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-life-random-rhythms-team-universal.html Mathematics Tue, 15 Aug 2023 09:46:21 EDT news611311576 A team of physicists and mathematicians at the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Soft and Living Matter, in South Korea, working with a colleague from the University of Geneva, has developed an algorithm that can be used to find the shape of an object to cause it to roll down a ramp following a desired path. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-algorithm-ramps-desired-path.html Mathematics Sat, 12 Aug 2023 13:00:01 EDT news610977358 Terry Loring, distinguished professor of mathematics and statistics, published and co-authored a new research piece involving his research on K-theory with the major advances in applications to critical problems in physics. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-mathematics-formula-k-theory-advance-topological.html Mathematics Fri, 11 Aug 2023 07:33:03 EDT news610957977